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12th International EUREDOCS Conference

Porto - 6-8 July 2020

CIPES Centre for Research on Higher Education Policies - U.Porto/U.Aveiro

Update 30th March 2020

Dear Colleagues,

As the world faces the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we are monitoring the situation and assessing the feasibility of going ahead as planned with the 12th International EUREDOCS Conference, scheduled for July 6-8, 2020, in Porto. Given the current uncertainty, we have decided to extend the deadline for proposals’ submission to April 30, 2020. By then, we will have a better knowledge and will take a decision about it. In the meantime, we wish all the best for you and your families in these challenging times.

EUREDOCS is a network of European doctoral students researching on issues related to the Europeanization of higher education and research. The network gathers doctoral students and those awarded the doctoral degree in the last three years researching on European higher education issues. It aims to facilitate and enhance communication among them and to promote publication and dissemination of research results, and enable exchange and mobility among young scholars in this field.

EUREDOCS is an interdisciplinary network and accepts membership from doctoral students and recent doctoral awards in sociology, political science, economics, history, and educational studies.

The 12th EUREDOCS Conference focuses on the following topic: “HEIs coping with external and internal challenges”

To submit a proposal, please fill in the form (see link above) and send it to: antonio@cipes.up.pt

Calendar: The deadline for the submission of a proposal is 30th March 2020 All papers selected for presentation must be available by 15th June 2020 The Conference will be held at the Clube Universitário do Porto - Universidade do Porto, from Monday 6th July (noon) to Wednesday 8th July (noon) 2020.

Theme - The 12th EUREDOCS Conference will focus on the following theme: “HEIs coping with external and internal challenges”. In recent years, higher education systems have changed significantly in response to rising global challenges and various national policy initiatives. In the context of knowledge economy, higher education institutions were called to respond to social, economic, environmental and political demands challenging their external and internal regulation. A reconfiguration of the sector along market rules and a pervasive influence of managerial and economic dimensions upon academic management were simultaneously developed. The rationale for many of these changes cannot be found exclusively within higher education and its analysis needs to consider higher education specificities and the examination of wider transformations taking place in the public sector all over the Western societies since the late twentieth century. Higher education institutions have been interacting with this changing context, dealing with growing international and national competition while considering the interests of a variety of stakeholders. Their organisational forms, governance and management have been, and still are, under scrutiny in the pursuit of organisational performance, accurate coordination and control systems. But now questions arise whether these organizational and governance forms are appropriate for universities to respond to new challenges of climate crisis, large scale population movements, and challenges to EU values and democracy. The EUREDOCS Conference welcomes papers focusing on how higher education institutions are interacting and responding to these transformations. Namely:

-the impacts of the governance reforms on the decision-making structures and processes of higher education institutions and their missions;-the impacts of quality assessment and accreditation systems aiming to improve the control function over HE, HE system(s) and institutions on institutions internal environment, and academic and management staff;-how does performance management contribute to HEIs achievement and accomplishment of their changing economic and social missions.

This focus does not limit the topics explored to answer these questions (e.g. access, funding, quality, careers, graduate employment, etc.), nor the methodological approaches. Additionally, the emphasis on institutions and their actors does not preclude, rather encourages, comparative approaches from international and national standpoints and multidisciplinary perspectives.

Open track: Preference will be given to great proposals related to the conference theme, but the EUREDOCS conference also provides an open track option to allow other PhD students working on other European topics and issues in Higher education research to contribute to the conference.

Organisation of the 2020 EUREDOCS Conference

The 12th EUREDOCS Conference will be held at the Clube Universitário do Porto – University of Porto, from the 6th to the 8th July, 2020 (Monday noon to Wednesday noon).

The Conference will be organised in four sessions (one on Monday, two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday) of approximately four hours duration. In each session no more than four papers will be presented and discussed (45 to 60 minutes for each paper). The attendance of doctoral students without contributing a paper is possible. Participants without a paper have to cover their own expenses. Accommodation and food expenses will be covered for participants presenting a paper. All participants will have to pay for their travelling expenses.

All papers selected for presentation must be available by 15th June 2020.

Participants and discussants will be asked to read the papers in advance of the Conference. Contributors will have 15 minutes to present a short version of their paper. For each paper a discussant will be assigned from among the other participants to comment on the presented paper (for 15 minutes as well). A general discussion will follow for 15 to 30 minutes. Each session is chaired by a senior researcher, usually a member of the Scientific Committee. Contributors have to pay themselves for their travel costs. Accommodation and meals in Porto will be covered by the organisation.

Requirements: Being a doctoral student or having recently (not earlier than January 2019) defended your thesis and working on a topic concerning higher education and/or research.

Proposals: Submit a proposal (two pages maximum) on a topic to be presented by using the proposal form at the end of this text. The proposal and the potential presentation must be in English.

Submission of proposals: Proposals should be sent by email to: antonio@cipes.up.pt by the 31st March 2020.

Selection process The proposals will be reviewed by the members of the Scientific Committee of EUREDOCS. The main assessment criterion will be the relevance, quality and clarity of the proposal for the theme of the Conference. For those papers submitted on the open track, the Scientific Committee will consider the significance of the topic to be developed. All papers will be considered for their overall research quality. We appreciate proposals based on solid empirical material (quantitative as well as qualitative) and including an appropriate theoretical framework. The evaluation of the proposals will consider the number of years already spent working on the PhD thesis. Replies will be sent to the applicants at the end of April 2020.

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